San Pedro : Zoning Shift Up to Council

The Los Angeles City Council will decide Tuesday whether to decrease the zoning density and place a temporary building moratorium on a six-block area near Bandini Canyon Park, where residents have complained about apartment construction.

About 300 area residents signed petitions requesting that zoning in the neighborhood be changed from RD-1.5 to R2 and that a moratorium on apartment construction be imposed for six months while the proposed zoning change works its way through the city's bureaucracy.

The R2 designation would allow a maximum of two units per lot, regardless of its size, while the current RD-1.5 zone allows one unit per 1,500 square feet. The zoning change would affect property bounded by Upland Avenue on the north, Cabrillo Avenue on the east, Summerland Avenue on the south and Bandini Street on the west.

Most of the lots in the area are 4,800 square feet, according to city officials.

Shanaz Ardehali-Kordich, a resident of Upland Avenue and a leader of the petition drive, said the downzoning effort was prompted by the recent construction of several multi-unit apartment buildings on lots where single-family homes previously stood.

"It really is ruining our neighborhood," Ardehali-Kordich said.

Mario Juravich, an aide to Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who represents San Pedro, said Flores supports both the moratorium and the downzoning.

"It is a single-family neighborhood with narrow streets," Juravich said. "She went through the area last week and agreed the requests are legitimate."

Juravich said several developers have contacted Flores' office, however, to express their opposition to the plan.